Girls and Boys Come Out to Play (Book 2)
by funkypen1
Summary: "There were 12 Black Widows in that room, only one survived" - Natasha Romanoff A sort of in between book between 'Clint? Laura? Where are you' And my next book, which is still being written. This was written 3 years ago and I only put it on Wattpad so I'm finally putting it on here. Also it has a slow start so bare with.
1. Kindness

There was never any heat or food. How she was alive was a mystery to the young girl. The derelict land was becoming harsher and harsher by the day.

Frozen puddles lay scattered across the ground. I got up and looked around trying to work out my plan for the rest of the day and more importantly how to survive this. Yes when my parents and sister had been alive it had been a bit easier, however I couldn't afford to dwell on the past. Walking down the street of what had been once a thriving industrial town was now ghostly after the companies had moved to places like China. I was looking for something, anything to eat. I had to keep moving I couldn't stay in the same place for more than a night in risk of getting arrested by the authorities. They didn't care what happened to you, only that you didn't clog up the streets by sleeping in doorways of buildings of various types. An army truck drove past. Oh why did they have to be in charge now? The men inside were carrying heavily armed weapons and were frightfully tall. I decided to take the next ally, to get away from their glares. It was narrow between two grotty looking concrete tower blocks. There was broken glass on the floor from various windows and bottles, wooden crates and cardboard boxes. It was a dead end. I turned one of the crates upside down so I could sit on it and wait out the morning patrols. Why aren't I in school you're asking? Well I'm a girl and I'm in Russia so that's your answer. I'm nine years old and I've been living like this for about two years. How I've lasted that long I've no idea. But I have and I'm quite proud of that fact. Most people who end up on the streets here die within months sadly. There's no help if you end up where I am, no one cares or even notices that you exist. There are a lot of children like me here. Most of them stay up by the bridge over the river. I don't dare go there, too likely to get caught. Looking up at the sky I can see the sun faintly through the dense gray clouds that linger up there all day. I guess at the time being about 9:00am the first morning patrols will be over now. Getting up I leave the ally and rejoin the road. I walk for about half an hour in no particular direction I know every street, every building, every ounce of space in this town. I end up in the middle area of the town, this still has some life. People are walking about here without fear, wearing suits and posh dresses. The homeless don't dare come here, well except me of course. Why do I come? Usually in the hope of food. I tend to walk over to one of the few remaining food shops and stare longingly into the window. Then sometimes, just sometimes a kind old soul comes over to me and gives me a few pennies, just enough to buy some bread. It's worth while. Only once or twice have a been sent away by police, never the army though, their not allowed here. Today I will do exactly the same. I see one of the food shops that is open and head in that direction. The building it's in is run down but the shop front is a magnificent dark green. The name of the shop is in gold colour lettering, it reads 'Food Shop.' How original. I take up my position outside the window eyeing up all of the glorious yet seemingly everyday foods to most. Several people walk by before a man in his 20s at a guess comes and stands next to me.

"You've got quite a technique worked out here haven't you?" He asks. His voice has a heavy Russian accent from further north than here. I don't respond, curious.

"Well then, what would you like today? Hmm. My treat." The man says edging towards the shop entrance. I follow him inside the shop not sure why, but I do. The rich smells of fresh breads and sweet pastries hits me like a solid wall. The man is standing near the counter.

"Chose what ever you want." I wasn't sure what to think of him, but nevertheless he was offering me food so I wasn't going to decline. I chose a loaf of bread thinking that will last for a while.

"Anything else?" He asks.

"No thank you" I say remembering my manners. Who was this man? He was kinder than any of the others. He was different.

"If you're certain." He pays the man behind the counter and we exit the shop. It had started to rain melting the ice and snow. The man got out an umbrella.

"Do you have anywhere to sleep?" He asked. I paused thinking about the answer I should give him.

"No, I don't" I answer truthfully.


	2. Something New

Chapter 2

"Well I'm part of an organisation that helps to home young girls like you" the man explains, "I'm Drakhov and you are?"

"Natasha" I reply watching Drakhov's every movement, not trusting him. However if he was telling the truth about this 'organisation' then I definitely wasn't going to turn it down.

"Do you want to join then?" He asked looking down at me.

"Don't see why not." I say shrugging my shoulders. Drakhov indicates for me to follow him across the road towards the park. I do so willingly. It was almost mid-day now and the sun was blaring down causing the ice to thaw. The park entrance was a huge open black painted metal gate. A few other people pass through it before we took the step inside. I'd never been in here before, it was like a whole other world from the city. It was green and teeming with life. Wooden benches lined the grey pebble path every couple of metres. We walked in silence through the park until we reached a hedged off area with a small gap in it to let people enter. Drakhov let me go first. It was a square area, with flower beds in each corner paths in between leading to other parts of the park. Right in the centre was a curved stone slab circle that then dipped into an empty basin. In the basin there was a tall stone structure that was decorated with carvings. At the top was a metal tube pointing upwards. I stared at it trying to imagine it at it's full beauty.

"It's a real shame they turned of all of the fountains in the city" Drakhov suddenly said and then walked off down one of the other paths. Within minutes we left the park and were back on the streets. Drakhov walked up to a black SUV, he put the keys in the door and unlocked it.

"Get in" he said. I opened the back door of the car. Inside the seats were covered in black leather, and the back windows were tinted. Climbing in I sat on the left side.

"Seat belt" Drakhov indicates pointing near my shoulder. I reach for it and hear the click. I can't remember the last time I was in a vehicle. The engines start up and we pull away from the curve.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Wait and see" I lean back against the seat and stare out of the window and watch all the cars, people and buildings pass by us.

I must of dozed off as when I open my eyes we're driving up a gravel driveway. Either side thick with holly bushes and pine trees. Birds were tweeting and it was getting dark. Finally the bushes give way and a huge stately house is revealed. Drakhov stops the car and gets out coming round to open the door for me. I get out and stare up at the three storey building. Ivy was creeping up the front, white paint was peeling off some of the window frames. The entrance had solid looking white pillars holding up a sort of porch roof. The front door itself was a dark wood. It opened and a woman walked out, she was tall and slim with dark brown hair pinned up into a tight bun at the back of her head.

"Drakov, you've found a recruit?" The woman asked.

"Yes. She's called Natasha."

"Very good. Follow me young lady." The woman said before walking through the wooden doors. I followed her into a hallway with a polished wooden plank floor. There was a reception type desk to the left and benches to the right with pot plants in between. The woman went over to the desk and spoke to a person behind it. I stood there and looked up at the ceiling, it was littered with cherubs playing various instruments. Then we walked further along. We stopped outside of a room with windows for walls so you could look in. There was a black grand piano in one corner with a woman sat behind it playing something, but I couldn't hear what. The floor was also wooden but of a lighter colour, on one side the wall was covered from ceiling to floor with mirrors and a balance beam running across the length of the room. In the middle there were about eleven girls older than me in leotards and tutus dancing to the music being played. At a guess it looked like they were performing ballet, but I couldn't be sure.

"These are some of our more advanced students" the woman said. I nodded in recognition. "Do you have a mouth? Use it please, gestures such as that aren't allowed here. So your name is Natasha, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"And how old are you?"

"Nine."

"Perfect age for our program." The woman smiled. "Follow me, we'll get you a room sorted." We headed down another corridor before ascending up white quartz stairs. We arrived outside a door with a plaque informing me that it was room number twelve. The woman opened the door. Inside was a small dormitory with twelve beds with metal frames. Five of them had girls about my age sitting on them. When we stepped into the room they stood up.

"Good morning Miss Ivanov." They said in unison.

"This is Natalia." Miss Ivanov addressed the girls. "This is your bed" She said pointing at an empty bed. The woman left closing the door behind her. I stand there looking at the other girls, four of them start whispering. The other one gets up and offers their hand to me. I shake it.

"I'm Anastaysia" She said cheerfully, "We'll talk later more as we're waiting for Master Drakov."

"What for?" I ask.

"I don't know we arrived yesterday, we had food and were sent up here. This morning we were told to wait for Drakhov." I nodded and went to sit on my bed. It was surprisingly comfy. The door opened and Drakhov stepped in. The others stood up, I copied.

"Good morning Master Drakhov" they chanted. I didn't join in until Drakhov stared at me.

"Доброе утро" He replied. "If you follow me we are going to test your intelligence. Do not worry about it, we will teach you." This shouldn't be too hard I was quite smart. We followed Drakhov out of the room and into another. This one had wooden single seated desks and a chalkboard at the front.

"Take a seat, but separate yourselves" Drakhov instructed. I took a seat in the middle of the room. He handed each of us a paper booklet with questions written on it.

"You have three hours to complete it, you may begin, in silence." About an hour and a half into the time I had almost finished, I glanced around the room. The others all had pencils still in their hand. Ten minutes later I had finished. I just sat there and looked up to the front of the room were Drakhov was sitting.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Um, I've finished" I say. He walks up to my desk, everyone else is looking in my direction. Drakhov picks up the paper and flicks through.

"So it seems, well done Miss Natasha. Write your name on it and then go back to your room." I pick up my pencil and in my neatest writing I write my full name, Natalia Alianova Romanova. Then I stand up and head back to the dormitory.

It was several hours before the others returned. Anastaysia flopped down onto her bed, then sat up and turned to face me. Our beds were next to each other.

"How did you finish so fast?" She asked.

"At first it was really hard, but then I noticed that there was a pattern. Each answer on a rotation." I explained. She nodded and lied back down on her bed.

"Now what do we do?" I asked her.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"I don't know." We were silent then for a while the other four girls were on the other side of the room talking. Miss Ivanov opened the door and stepped in.

"Lunch is waiting downstairs in the hall, you will sit together where I tell you. Then after lunch you are free to go either here, the library or into the house grounds." Then she left. Which way was the hall? The others got up and left, Anastaysia held the door open for me.

"Do you know where the hall is?" She asked me.

"No idea." I said looking around for a sign as we walked down the hallway. We found it and it was huge. Rows upon rows of wooden tables already filled with girls older than us sitting upright with silver plates in front of them. We saw Miss Ivanov and she directed us to our seats. Then the room went completely silent as someone at the front stood up. He was a tall dark haired man with a thick beard, dressed in a royal purple robe. Everyone stood up so Anastaysia and I copied. I had a feeling that there might be a lot of that. The man at the front gestured for everyone to sit down.

"It is a new term here at the Red Room and we must welcome our new recruits. Stand up." The man said. The six of us on our table stood up. "Sit down."

"Because it is a new year it means the start of a new program. This years program is focusing on accuracy and strategy. And what's this magnificent program called? The Black Widow program." After that his speech went on and on, finally we could eat. I looked at our plates and compared them to some of the older girls. They had roast dinner, and we had. Slop. I have no idea what it was actually meant to be. The man from the front came over to our table.

"I doubt you know who I am yet?"

"No sir" I say politely, no one else from the table speaks.

"Seems like you're the only one who can speak. I'm the Bratva Captain. I am in charge of this organisation. Good luck." The Bratva Captain walks off.

After lunch I decide to go to the library to find out as much as possible about this place. I went on my own everyone else went outside. The library was relatively small in comparison to most rooms here that I'd seen. I browsed through several books before picking one up and taking it to a desk to read. I switch on the lamp next to me and settle down to plough through this book.

A bell sounded four hours later, everyone else left the library. What was going on? Was it a fire alarm? Or just a lesson change or something like that? It stopped ringing and I couldn't smell smoke. Not a fire alarm then. Then I looked at the time dinner maybe? I put the book back on the self where I found it and headed to the hall. No one was in there. Then Miss Ivanov was walking towards me.

"You should be in your dorm."

"Sorry I didn't know." I say before rushing off upstairs and into dorm twelve. Anastaysia got up.

"Where have you been?"

"I was in the library, I didn't the bell meant you had to come back here." I explain.

"Ok. Anyway we've been told that we have to go to sleep early today because of a prank that was played by some of the older students." I nod and head to my bed and change into the pjs we'd been given. I climbed into bed and shut my eyes. I soon drifted off it had been an age since I'd had a proper nights sleep. I was looking forward to it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It wasn't even light when Miss Ivanov entered the dormitory the next morning.

"Get up breakfast will be in ten minutes" she said then left. I lazily opened my eyes, one of the other girls must have turned on the lights as it blinded me for a moment. My eyes finally came into focus and I saw the others getting ready for the day.

"Morning" Anastaysia said cheerfully pulling a shirt over her head. "I forgot to ask, how old are you?"

"Nine, you?"

"Ten."

"You ready?" I ask getting up off of my bed.

"Yes lets go" Anastaysia said opening the door for me to walk through.

Sitting down in the hall I glance up at a large clock on the back wall. I could only just read the time as the hall was being illuminated by candle light. 4am. Miss Ivanov came over to our table with six other girls following behind her. The girls sat down and looked at us as if they were analysing us.

"Finish your food; then come outside into the yard and await further instructions" Miss Ivanov instructed.

Once Anastaysia and I had finished we found our way outside into a courtyard. We stood in a line, in silence. Drakhov appeared in the centre of the court.

"Good morning. Pick up one of the back packs each" he said indicating to where a pile of brown army style bags lay. I picked one and almost fell over, they were surprisingly heavy.

"Right, now head to the outer fence of the grounds and go all the way round but you have to be back here before lunch otherwise you don't get any. Go!" Drakhov shouted at us. I started moving towards the edge of the grounds. How big were the grounds? They seemed huge. How long would it take? They clearly don't expect us to make it back for lunch. I'm going to have to jog this to arrive on time. We all made our way over towards the edge of the grounds. Once I reached the edge I started to jog gently as I would need to conserve energy. The wind was blowing in the opposite direction making my face cold. I pulled my sleeves down over my hands. I glanced up at the sun as it started to creep over the horizon, causing me to squint with my eyes. I kept running, a couple of girls had decided to walk who were now far behind me, others had sprinted and were now out of breath. I looked ahead and see the landscape changing into hills, great. Thankfully they weren't very steep. I slowed my pace as I went up, I was almost at the top when I heard a thud, coming from behind. I turned to see one of the other girls had collapsed, rushing over I went to see if she was alright.

"Hello are you alright?" I asked.

"Leave her." Another voice said. It was Drakhov's. "If she collapsed then it's her own fault." I didn't feel like arguing with him, so I started to jog round further round the grounds again. The rest of the way all I could think of was that girl who collapsed, I don't even know her name.

About four hours later coming out of some woodland, I see the house again. I was no more than thirty minutes away. I was going to make it. No one else was anywhere near me, am I first? I arrived back at the house and slowed my paced to a walk and went over to Miss Ivanov. Surprise painted onto her face. I bent over and took deep steady breaths.

"You're first here. Well done, most never make it in time, but you." She paused and looked at her wrist. "You made it with an hour too spare."

"Thank you, what should I do now Miss Ivanov?"

"Well you either stay here and see the others humiliate themselves or you can go to the library and read up on ballet."

"Is that what we're doing this afternoon?" I asked, she was getting bored of my questions.

"Possibly." I didn't give it another moment's thought and went straight back to the library. I sat down ready to read about ballet. I have never really given it much thought before. The bell rang out I put the book back and headed to the hall for lunch.

My table was quiet. It only had me and one other girl on it. We looked at each other and made a sort of smile. Where was Anastaysia? I hope she made it and that she was on her way here. Lunch came and passed and she didn't appear, no else did either. I headed back up to the dormitory with this other girl who I now knew was called Rebekah. We opened the door and the other girls were sitting on their beds. I went over to mine; sat down and looked towards Anastaysia, she was asleep. I don't blame her I could easily fall asleep right now, but I chose not to.

About an hour later we were called into one of the dance studios, similar to what I'd seen on my first day. Wall length mirror, windows covering another and a black beam. We'd been arranged in height order. I was near the middle. Miss Ivanov stood at the front and passed us leotards.

"Get changed into them."

"What? In here?" One of the other girls asked.

"You can change in the corridor now" Miss Ivanov said and then pulled some curtains across the window. This I did not expect. Better it over and done with. It was a tight but flexible material. Then we got passed ballet shoes. They were pink. I hated pink. Thankfully the rest of my outfit was black, although colours was the least of my worries. Once everyone was in the leotards Miss Ivanov returned to the front of the room.

"First we will be learning the basics. Stretches, pilé, 1st and 2nd position. Copy me for the stretches." Miss Ivanov moved into various positions, I copied them all as closely as possible. About half an hour later she stopped.

"Right now put your feet together with a ninety degree angle in between." Then Miss Ivanov started to walk along the line looking down at our feet.

"Sloppy, too wide, too close. Do you even know what a ninety degree angle looks like?" Several girls muttered no and two of us said yes. It was Rebekah and me.

"Ok you two stand over there while I deal with these." Miss Ivanov said pointing to one of the sides and then demonstrated different angles to the others. Rebekah and I spent the rest of the lesson at the side watching them practice placing their feet at different angles, until they had them perfect.

"End of lesson go to your dorm and change then you have an hour free before dinner." Miss Ivanov said waving her hand towards the door.

I ended up back in the library reading up on the pilé and the stretches Miss Ivanov had started to show us. I started to put my feet carefully into the positions underneath the desk. Dinner flew past me and I didn't really pay attention as I was practising the movements in my head till I knew them perfectly. The bell went and I headed up to the dormitory for bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was just about to drift off to sleep when the door was prised open. I woman walked in quietly. Who was she? They looked like Miss Ivanov, but I couldn't be sure. She went over the one of the girls beds and woke her up. It was the girl who had collapsed earlier today. She put her shoes on and was led out of the room by Miss Ivanov. Once the door was safely shut behind them the room bloomed with whispers.

"Was that Miss Ivanov?" One girl asked.

"Why was she taking Adrianna?" Another asked, that must be the girl's name. A few more questions were asked before silence fell once more. Then Anastaysia spoke up.

"Maybe, just maybe she was taken for collapsing during the hike. I mean no one else did but her and we're all here." The others nodded, she seemed to have a point. If that was the case, then where did they take her?

"So if that's the reason she was taken out then where is she now? What's happening to her?" I asked. Worry flickered across everyone's faces, whether it was for Adrianna or themselves I will never know. But for now it looked like we had a common aim. To avoid whatever was happening to Adrianna. The others soon fell asleep, I stayed awake for hours gazing into the ceiling. Memorising every little crack and cobweb that had been created over time. As I continued to stare, the white paint began to move and change colour. A picture of a familiar place appeared. My home. The fireplace had been lit, my sister sitting on my father's knee whilst he told us story after story. Our mother brought in hot mugs of black tea for each of us.

I blinked. The picture disappeared. It was just my imagination. I felt sad then for a moment, lost even. I miss my parents, but most of all my sister, Caitriona, she was as pure as her name suggested.

The next morning we were back out running round the grounds. Adriana hadn't reappeared yet. Where was she? I kept thinking about her all day, so much that it caused me to trip up in ballet. This meant that I had to stand on my tip toes for an hour without falling back down. If I did then I would have to start again. My muscles started to ache, but I wouldn't give up now I had fifteen minutes left. I watched from the sidelines as the others struggled to change between stretches and a pilé in time to Miss Ivanov's beat. Yes, one hour. I'd done it. Miss Ivanov glanced at the clock.

"You can come and re-join us now, Miss Romanova" I rejoined the line of girls and soon picked up on the pattern of steps that Miss Ivanov was calling out.

"Very good. That's all for today."

Later that night Anastaysia and I are talking, sitting on our beds.

"I can't believe that you managed to stay on your toes for an hour!" Anastaysia exclaimed, "I would have fallen over within minutes of starting."

"I don't really know how I did it. It just sort of happened." I tried to explain shifting on my bed to become more comforty.

"Well anyway, what do you think happened to what's her name?"

"Adrianne" I filled in.

"Yes her?"

"I'm not sure."

"Maybe she'll never return? Or aliens could have taken her? Or even worse she could have been taken by America!"

"Don't be ridiculous, of course she'll return." Or at least I hope so, I said to myself.

"Well whatever the case may be, I hope she's safe. I quite liked her." Anastaysia lies down and stares at the ceiling, sighing. I then proceed to do the same. The quiet doesn't last long as the door slams open. Miss Ivanov strides in followed by a very shriveled looking Adrianna. As soon as Miss Ivanov leaves the room we all crowd round Adrianna.

"What happened?"

"Where'd you go?"

"Did you have to meet an American?"

"Hey, stop it. Leave her alone." Anastaysia said taking control. She puts her arm around Adrianna and guides her towards her bed. I sit down on mine looking at her. She looks straight back at me, her eyes. Oh her eyes, they were lifeless, like grey concrete buildings. She stayed sat there watching me, I finally grew tired so I lay down. Looking back towards her, she was still watching me as if she was clinging to life. I felt sorry for her, what happened? Oh I really did want to know but, I had to wait for Adrianna to open up. That's if she ever would.

It turns out that she did, but I missed it all as I was asleep. Anastaysia heard it though and insisted on telling me during breakfast.

"Well first she woke some of us up in the night with her crying" Anastaysia began, can this girl start a conversation without saying well?

"I sat back up and put my arm over her shoulders, She began to speak. It was only vague at first, things like: it was horrible or I never want to go there again. It turns out that she was kept in a cellar, who knew this place had one?!" Anastaysia exclaimed.

"I could've guessed"

"Well anyway, there was no light, pitch black it was. She didn't have no food neither. The door never opened not once. She swore that there was a ghost down there. She was left down there all by herself for twenty four hours."

"Wow, that's horrible. Why would anyone do such a thing?"

"I don't know, but I am definitely going to avoid messing anything up." I had to agree to that. I looked back down at my plate, then along the table at Adrianna. She was just sitting there playing with her food. What had I gotten myself into?


	5. 5

Chapter 5

A week had passed since I had entered this hell hole. The only good thing was that there was food, which was sometimes missed, and the beds. Lunch was going to be missed because of ballet earlier in the day. Somebody lost their balance and fell into the girl next to her. The whole line fell like dominos, the wooden floor we had landed on was really hard and cold. It had left me with a bruise on my leg where I hit the balance beam behind me. Most of the dorm was angry with that girl, but I felt nothing towards her, it didn't pay to hold a grudge here. That just made you a target for the teachers, if you could call them teachers. They weren't kind and they didn't have your best interests at heart, they were brutal, mean and cold. The idea of this so called education program was for something bigger I wasn't sure what but it had to be harsh on a person if this was the training. Instead of wasting my time like most of the girls did in the dormitory I went into the grounds and started jogging round various routes, past the lake, forest and round the house a few times. The fresh air helped me to think. It let my mind wonder, making up worlds that seemed impossible to me. Worlds of dragons, wizards, talking cakes and families. I always ended up in that world. Everything would be perfect, but then I'd float back to reality and the sadness would take over.

I gazed up to the clock on the top of the house. The afternoon classes were about to start. I had my first self defense. I sauntered over to my lesson to find Anastaysia waiting talking to another girls, who's name I did not care to remember. Drakov would be leading this lesson, much to my delight. The room was had thin blue crash mats in one corner of the room. Drakov put us in pairs, I was with Rebekah, then told us the origins of self defense and hand to hand combat. I zoned out wishing the room had some windows. That's probably why they didn't to minimise distractions. Drakov finally finished the history and began with pointing out the vulnerable areas of the body, in other words the areas to target.

"The eyes, the nose, the stomach and" he paused "the back of the knee." He then proceeded to show us how to block those areas from attack. He let us practice the blocks on our partners, before showing us how to actually throw the attack to hit each of those places. He did them with textbook precision.

"Your turn." Drakov said "come up to the front." He pointed at one pair. They looked nervous, but they soon got into the motion of the moves with a little help from Drakov. Until one of them tripped the other up with a kick to the back of the knee.

"That is ill practice in our profession and normally that would be severely punished, no I'm not going to make an exception. Go and run five laps of the building" Drakov indicated to the girls. A few other pairs went up before it was Rebekah and mine's turn. I walked forward and faced Rebekah. She seemed confident, but it might have been put on. I know I was nervous, I felt like running away, hiding and never coming out again. Nevertheless I put on a brave face and prepared to be attacked by the girl in front of me. I went into a defensive stance as she took her first swing at my nose, followed by a swift attempt to hit the back of my knee with her hand. I created a block and launched an attack of my own, straight for her stomach. I didn't want to cause too much damage and I think Drakov could sense that as he gave me a harsh look when I glanced up at him for a second. Nothing more than a second though as in combat I knew you couldn't afford to look away from what your opponent was doing, unless you wanted to lose. After about five minutes neither of us went down, Drakov intervened as he want the next pair to step up. I returned to the safety of the line, well it felt safer than in the middle of the room. The rest of the lesson drifted by and was soon over.

We had been given a sort of paper timetable with all our 'lessons'. I took notice of what I had next and made my way there. Hmm, Russian history this should be interesting. It turns out that I knew a lot of it already as it was about the communist revolt.

"So then as a starting question who can tell me the date of the revolution?" Miss Ivanov asked as she prowled back and forth at the front of the classroom.

"Come on! Anyone?" She asked again hitting her wooden ruler against the green chalk board that was on the wall behind her. I raised my hand tentatively.

"Yes, Miss Romanoff."

"The communist revolt occurred in October 1917" I said plucking up the courage to speak, I crossed my fingers hoping I was correct.

"Very good, it looks like at least one of you have a brain out of you measly lot" Miss Ivanov grumbled, "right complete these questions on the board in your books." I picked up my pencil and started to scribble away the answers, one by one. Once finished I raised my hand to inform Miss Ivanov.

"Yes Miss Romanoff?"

"I have finished."

"Very good, you may read through this." She handed me a metalic green binded book, the title read 'Revolutions and Their Leaders.' Opening the front cover felt like lifting a truck, the pages inside were sunbleached which was odd as there was no sun in this room. I began to read, soon losing track of the world around me. I blinked as I observed that the girls around me were getting up and taking their books with them. Miss Ivanov was whiping the board clean at the front and then turned round.

"The lessons over Miss Romanoff, you may go." I got up, picked up my things and handed the book back to Miss Ivanov before leaving the classroom. Another day down.


End file.
